(Image courtesy NHRA/National Dragster)

Mike Edwards’ 6.471-second pass — the quickest in National Hot Rod Association Pro Stock history — gave him his fifth consecutive No. 1 qualifying position Saturday at the Dollar General Four-Wide Nationals at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s zMAX Dragway.
 
But the owner-driver of the Interstate Batteries / I Am Second / K&N Chevy Camaro said he knew that guaranteed him nothing once eliminations began Sunday.
 
“That record is not safe, by any means,” the points leader said immediately after rewriting his own national record by two-thousandths of a second. He had set the previous mark just two races ago, in March at the Gatornationals at Gainesville, Fla.

However, it held up as the record and the event’s low elapsed time. Moreover, Edwards maintained his consistency and parlayed his sizzling performance into his long-awaited first victory of the year and first since last June at Bristol, Tenn. It was his 35th, placing him in a tie for 15th place on the NHRA all-time victories list with legends “Big Daddy” Don Garlits and Don “The Snake” Prudhomme.
 
Edwards said his young crew (which includes “a couple of guys who didn’t know the front [of the car] from the back”) is “getting better. Everybody’s learning the ropes. Hopefully we can keep it on going.”
 
He is drawing the most from his new Jerry Haas-built Camaro, his new Charlotte-based engine program that Paul Hoskins and Dan Cordier run, and the addition of Adam Hornberger, the former Penske Racing Shocks expert.
 
The 2009 series champion said he’s not counting points right now but is continuing to test as much as possible.
 
“This class, these guys, they’re blood-hungry. They don’t stop for nothin’. You’d better not look back — they’ll run smooth over you,” Edwards said. “We’ve got to keep our heads to the grindstone, keep working away.”